Newt Gingrich, Santorum’s chief rival in their effort to harvest conservative Republican voters in the primaries, meanwhile, spoke of the threat of an Iranian nuclear attack on the United States that would kill and injure hundreds of thousands.
Santorum was campaigning in Oklahoma and Gingrich in Ohio.
Santorum linked Israel to the Obama Administration’s opposition to the Keystone pipeline project, which would bering Canadian oil to the United States.
“We’re throwing Israel under the bus because we know we’re going to be dependent upon OPEC,” Santorum said. “We’re going to say, ‘Oh, Iran, we don’t want you to get a nuclear weapon — wink, wink, nod, nod — go ahead, just give us your oil.’ Folks, the president of the United States is selling the economic security of the United States down the river right now.”
Santorum appeared not to know that President Bill Clinton banned any and all purchases of Iranian oil in 1995.
Santorum later told CNN that Obama’s actions support the view that the president was choosing Iran over Israel. He accused Defense Secretary Leon Panetta of divulging sensitive information about Israel’s plans to strike Iran.
The Washington Post published a column two weeks ago that said Panetta had concluded an Israeli strike was likely before summer. Panetta has declined to comment on that report.
Santorum told CNN: “The president fought tooth and nail against putting sanctions on Iran and only capitulated at the end. This is a president who is not standing by our allies, is trying to appease, trying to find a way to allow — clearly to allow Iran to get this nuclear weapon. He’s doing absolutely nothing in a consequential way to make sure that they do not get this weapon.”
Obama opposed new sanctions being written in Congress last fall until Congress agreed to give him waiver and exemption authority that permit him to wield the sanctions like a scalpel rather than an axe.
The Obama campaign responded to Santorum’s remarks by reiterating its position that more pressure than ever has been placed on Iran under Obama and that the president has led the international effort to sanction Iran.
Gingrich asserted last Wednesday that an Iranian nuclear attack on the United States was “a real danger” and that it could kill and injure hundreds of thousands of Americans.
In the past, Gingrich has said that if Iran were to obtain nuclear weapons, then not only Israel but also the United States would be at risk, and he has characterized Iran as a country and a culture that fosters terrorism. He has also talked about how much worse a nuclear attack on the United States would be than the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington.
He tied those warnings closely together last week in Ohio.
“You think about an Iranian nuclear weapon. You think about the dangers, to Cleveland, or to Columbus, or to Cincinnati, or to New York,” Gingrich said. “Remember what it felt like on 9/11 when 3,100 Americans were killed. Now imagine an attack where you add two zeros. And it’s 300,000 dead. Maybe a half-million wounded. This is a real danger. This is not science fiction. That’s why I think it’s very important that we have the strongest possible national security.”
Gingrich did not explain how he thought Iran might carry out such an attack since it does not have a missile capable of reaching the United States.